Chula Vista employee salaries released

Chula Vista has released the names, job titles and compensation data for its 873 city employees for 2013, reversing years of withholding such information on the grounds that it would be an invasion of privacy.

“We felt that the names created a privacy issue and safety issues. And identity theft is a huge problem,” said Bart Miesfeld, a senior assistant city attorney for Chula Vista. “That was our concern, but we figured we’d rather fall on the side of transparency.”

In 2013, Chula Vista spent $103.7 million on employee compensation and benefits, according to the data.

The median salary was $70,938. With overtime and other pay, the median compensation climbed to $82,250, or 21 percent higher than the city’s median household income. The median benefits package cost the city $32,291.

The best compensated official was a fire captain, who earned more than $237,000, including $129,613 in overtime and $13,202 in special compensation. By comparison, City Manager James Sandoval, who plans to retire in July, was paid $228,000 a year.

Mayor Cheryl Cox was paid $126,000, more than the mayor of San Diego. She declined to comment on the salary data, or the city’s change in legal posture regarding release of it.

The U-T has been seeking the data from Chula Vista since at least 2008, in response to a 2007 California Supreme Court ruling that the salaries funded by taxpayers are a matter of public information.

The ruling centered on salaries of $100,000 or more, which have been at the heart of debate regarding government pay and benefits and its effect on city budgets. The U-T has posted the database, searchable for readers, of the employees with compensation at that level. About a third of city employees receive six-figure compensation.

Search Chula Vista salaries above $100K

This database covers government salaries in excess of $100,000, which were the subject of a Supreme Court case in 2007 establishing they are public information.

The records release came after a U-T Watchdog story printed Wednesday about a separate lawsuit against the city by the California Policy Center. In the lawsuit, the center called on the San Diego Superior Court to force Chula Vista to turn over a compensation database.

The Watchdog had made a similar request on May 8, renewing previous efforts.

Chad Morgan, an attorney for the center, said his clients still have not received the database they requested nearly a year ago, and his lawsuit is therefore proceeding.

“We are encouraged to learn that CPC's transparency lawsuit has caused Chula Vista to provide this information to The San Diego Union-Tribune, but at this point Chula Vista officials have yet to provide complete name, job title and compensation information to CPC,” he said. “We are evaluating our legal options as we wait for Chula Vista to provide us this public information.”

Miesfeld told the Watchdog that his office had given the center all of the data it requested.

Since Chula Vista did not have all of the records in the same database, it had to provide two separate files. The city offered to merge those files for the center if it agreed to pay the computer programming costs, Miesfeld said.

“I left a voicemail on Monday and said what we can do,” Miesfeld told the Watchdog. “I contacted our IT department to see. Apparently, instead of waiting, [Morgan] rushed to court and asked for it to be turned over. I think the court filing will be dismissed when they realize the city has provided the information.”